Daily Fix, May 16

*Congratulations to Iron County GOP Chair Casey Anderson, who was elected to fill the seat of late Senator Dennis Stowell in District 28. SL Trib

*Various groups are gearing up for what will likely be very contentious hearings over the proposed 285-mile $3.5 billion pipeline project that will pump water from aquifers under Utah and northern Nevada toward Las Vegas. SL Trib

*A federal judge on Friday granted preliminary approval of a $1.25 billion class action settlement in favor of a group of black farmers who alleged they were victims of U.S. Dept. of Agriculture loan discrimination. LegalTimes blog

*Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote opinions upholding Guantanamo detainees’ rights, said at a dinner in Chicago that the killing of OBL was legal. WSJ Blog

*President Obama announced, early morning on Saturday, that he will direct federal agencies to expand drilling for oil and gas in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. Reuters He must be tired of paying $4 at the pump. Oh wait . . .

*One of the world’s most successful money managers, Stanley Druckenmiller, is willing to accept a temporary delay in interest payments he is owed on his U.S. Treasury bonds, the alleged effect of not raising the debt ceiling, if it means that a deal is in the works to control spending, specifically, “runaway entitlement costs.” WSJ His sentiments support Senator Lee’s efforts to tie any raise of the debt ceiling to a balanced budget amendment.

TODAY’S NEWS:

*Well, we’ve hit the debt ceiling. $14.3 TRILLION. In response, the Obama administration will now use money from federal employee retirement programs to fund daily operations. Washington Post Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner says the government will likely default on some of its obligations if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by August 2. For your general non-amusement, here’s a real-time national debt clock.

*Donald Trump isn’t running for President. Fox13 And neither is Mike Huckabee. Nate Silver analyzes the rest of the Republican presidential hopefuls’ chances in Iowa here. Even though Silver concludes that Huckabee’s departure was least helpful to Jon Huntsman Jr., Mike Campbell, the chairman of Huckabee’s 2008 campaign, announced today that he will back Huntsman if he decides to enter the race. NRO